Recycling competition launches in Oldham schools.

A new school recycling programme has started in Oldham, called ‘Message in a Bottle Top’.

It follows the competition's huge success in 2021, which was held by the UK’s largest brand of sustainable composite decking and cladding, Composite Prime.

Oldham's schools are being called upon to highlight the significant impact plastic waste has on the environment by collecting and transforming plastic bottle tops into life-sized art murals and sculptures.

The winning school will receive a playground makeover worth £5,000 plus eco-friendly Composite Prime decking. 

Composite Prime director, Charles Taylor commented: “With everything from giant jellyfish to a great white shark, the sculptures created by schools up and down the country were incredibly creative and showcased a huge amount of plastic waste.

"The response to the 2021 campaign was incredible, it saw 785 schools, 845 teachers, 110,432 children and 194,360 parents collect over 90,000 bottle tops.”

Built in line with the national curriculum and fulfilling learning objectives across art and design, science, maths and citizenship, the Message in a Bottle Top campaign also supports step 4 of the Ecoschools’ seven step programme.

The initiative provides teachers and support staff with associated learning resources; including lesson plans, presentations, artist top tips and activity worksheets to complete in class and at home. 

Charles continued: “Our Message in a Bottle Top campaign has been created specifically to target younger generations and Composite Prime is extremely proud to play a small part in educating the next generation about sustainability.

"We can’t wait to see the engagement with the campaign this year, and the incredible entries we’re hoping to receive.”

All competition entries submitted by schools, ahead of the deadline on 20 May 2022, will be independently judged by Composite Prime and the winning school will receive a playground makeover worth £5,000.

The top ten schools will have the opportunity to showcase their artwork in an online exhibition and two runners up will receive tablets worth more than £100. 

Composite Prime creates eco-friendly and socially responsible decking and cladding products, made using recycled plastic and FSC® certified oak wood flour.

Each square metre of composite decking contains the equivalent of more than 3,000 plastic bottle caps or 280 plastic bottles. 

To get involved with Composite Prime’s Message in a Bottle Top recycling programme, visit the website: www.composite-prime.com. 

---

Do you have a story for us? Want to tell us about something going on in and around Oldham? Let us know by emailing news@oldham-chronicle.co.uk , calling our Oldham-based newsroom on 0161 633 2121 , tweeting us @oldhamchronicle or messaging us through our Facebook page. All contact will be treated in confidence.